It is undeniable that Association football is a global game with huge popularity. Yet what is known as 'women's football' receives far less support, financial assistance, media coverage and academic attention than the men's game. Consequently the story of women's football remains largely untold and its potential as a sports-related discussion is yet to be fulfilled. Women, Football and Europe is a collection of essays that contributes new knowledge on women's football. Volume 1 deals with historical aspects of the game, equality issues, and the experiences of those involved, while volume 2 looks at individual topics such as the 2005 UEFA Women's Championships, the pressures and constraints on female coaches, and the key issues affecting the development of the women's game in England and Europe.

This volume draws upon social science and historical approaches to provide insights into the world of women’s football and female fans. It gives an in-depth analysis of the development of the women’s game in different European countries and examines the experiences of female fans. An overview about women’s football in Europe shows the rise and development of the game and the increasing inclusion of girls and women in football and fan communities. To date, there has been a lack of research on female participation in football, but drawing on research studies from various European countries, the volume explores a range of issues, including how girls and women become football fans and players, how women combine football with their everyday lives, and how they may encounter stereotypes and barriers when they challenge male dominance by entering this traditionally male sport. This collection will be of interest to students and scholars in a range of fields, including sports sociology, sport sciences, gender studies, leisure studies, women’s studies as well as fandom and cultural studies.

Different Evolutionary Models - Past, Present, and Future - Certain to Collide at Women's World Cup 2023 With this new edition of his feted 2019 volume, Dr. Andrei Markovits - author of many books and academic papers on world fútbol, published in multiple languages - trains his canny, socio-historical eye on the contrasting cultural forces shaping women's soccer in 2023.  A head start. Where North American women, starting in the 1970s, enjoyed newly rendered systems and cultural spaces left empty by traditionally male-centered team sports, their European sisters were forced to contest what has arguably been the most male-dominated space in European public life. Changing dynamics. These nuanced, divergent evolutions help explain the dominance of the 4-time World Cup champion United States. However, hard-won access to the European player-development apparatus, mainly at the club level, has tipped the balance of power. Crucial support. Markovits also identifies the one cohort vital to the sport's commercial success, on either side of the Atlantic: women themselves, who have rarely (if ever) supported any team game at the professional level in numbers that would allow women's soccer to compete equitably with team sports played exclusively and watched largely by men. No book better explains this fascinating state of play or better preps the global soccer community for a World Cup sure to remake the sport's balance of power.

It is undeniable that Association football is a global game with huge popularity. Yet what is known as 'women's football' receives far less support, financial assistance, media coverage and academic attention than the men's game. Consequently the story of women's football remains largely untold and its potential as a sports-related discussion is yet to be fulfilled. Women, Football and Europe is a collection of essays that contributes new knowledge on women's football. Volume 1 deals with historical aspects of the game, equality issues, and the experiences of those involved, while volume 2 looks at individual topics such as the 2005 UEFA Women's Championships, the pressures and constraints on female coaches, and the key issues affecting the development of the women's game in England and Europe.

With an estimated 26 million female players globally (6 million based in Europe), the evolution of football has been dramatic. Growth in the women's game has led to more widespread player migration as new forms of professionalism emerge. This work explores those patterns of movement into, and out of, Europe using new archival evidence and player interviews.

A complete history of women’s football in Great Britain, from its Victorian games beginning in 1881 to 2022 and planning for the Euro Finals. In The History of Women’s Football, author Jean Williams demonstrates how women’s football began as a professional sport, and has only recently returned to these professional roots in the UK. This is because there was a fifty-year Football Association ‘ban’ on women playing on pitches affiliated to the governing body in England. The other British associations followed suit. Why was women’s football banned in 1921? Why did it take until 1969 for a Women’s Football Association to form? Why did it take until 1995 for England to qualify for a Women’s World Cup? Answers to these key questions are supplemented across the chapters by personal accounts of the players who defied the ban, at home and abroad, along with the personal costs, and rewards, of being footballing pioneers. Praise for The History of Women’s Football “This book was very informed, detailed and a very good read. As a football fan, I was staggered by how much I didn’t know and how if football had been better supported at the beginning of the century there is a good chance women’s football would be on a par with the men’s game now . . . this was a very interesting read and I would happily recommend this book to fellow football fans.” —UK Historian

This book examines the complex ways in which girls and women experience football cultures in Britain. It extends current debate surrounding women and football (namely, how gender has functioned to shape women’s experiences of playing the game), by focusing on organisational, administrative and coaching practices, alongside the particular issues surrounding sexuality, ethnicity and disability (not only gender). The book analyses football and gender to reveal the subtle forms of discrimination that persist. It is important to highlight the many challenges and transformations made by girls and women but more importantly to consider the ways power continues to operate to devalue and undermine girls and women involved in the game. The UK-based authors make use of their recent research findings to offer critical debate on girls’ and women’s current experiences of British football cultures. Overall the book reveals the present day complexities of marginalisation and exclusion. This book was published as a special issue of Sport and Society.